Waiting...A Good Thing

What are you waiting for....hoping for...longing for? That "thing" whether it involves your purpose, career, ministry,  or a relationship is what you cry out to God for. Waiting, for me, has always been..ummm.. well challenging. I've always been impatient, thinking that the "I-m'' in impatient should really be spelled "im not"! Left to my self, I'm a foot tapping, rolling my eyes, driving too fast, sighing and groaning, wanting things NOW kind of girl!  When I think I'm trusting God and waiting on Him, but in reality trying to drive something, the hardest part for me is letting go and trusting Him! Trusting the purpose of the wait and NOT see waiting with no answer in sight as rejection.  If you're like me, you're crying out unrestrained and with all your heart and at times..just plain loud ( where no one can hear of course), and other times with prayers and tears that no one can hear.If you long for something, truly long for it, there will  be a passion in your waiting, and in your patience. This is the really good part...You're waiting, intensely for God  to move in your behalf, and He's longing with the same intensity!  

       Isaiah 30:18  Yet the Lord Longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion.

                                For the Lord is a God of justice.

                                Blessed are all who Wait for Him!  

Now this part is better than a Route 44 Sweet Tea from Sonic, the words " Longs" and "Wait" = the exact same word in Hebrew!

Beth Moore shared this thought in her Esther bible study and I was so struck by it! I wanted to yell STOP.... did anyone else really hear that?? I've always in the back of my mind secretly thought longing and waiting were polar opposites. God was on the Life Giving Side of EVERYTHING GOOD,  and I was on the impatiently waiting side ( on a good day), with hope and faith expecting Him! This totally blows my mind! He is FOR us, and we're on the same side and He is BY my side! God can't hardly contain Himself!! ( had to go totally south on that one).He SO desires to show Himself to us in all His Love and Goodness and Strength! His Longing, at the very least, is infinitely beyond the level of intensity and passion our waiting is. He's NOT withholding answers, goodness  or love in our lives. There must be indescribable purpose in our wait and His Longing! When I see this, really see it, it brings me to tears. God is the Creator and the Author of longing and waiting. Longing... and Loving ....is part of the wait, otherwise it's just a passing of time. He gets your desire, and your longing and yes your pain. There's a freedom in this revelation IF you can embrace it and the process and the journey. As deeply as we may have longed and hoped and  waited for answers and release and fulfillment, God has, since the beginning of time, Longed to give us that  Grace and Compassion and Love to Fill that longing in us!

Isn't  that the good news you've waited for? Rev. 1:9 states that..."the Passion of Patience in Jesus..." God's patience always involves His Passion. We are made in His Image and His Likeness. So I wait, never in vain, but that I may know Him and be Filled and Fulfilled by Him.  Plus only He can handle all my passion and desire and still long to extend more Grace and Love towards me. 

           Prov.13:12 "A longing fulfilled is a tree of life."

         Prov.13:19 "A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul."   

Okay,  so there is a lot of "longing'' and "waiting" in this blog...but if we can really GET this, we will embrace the wait, not endure it. Love all you who are waiting...think you're wonderful...

Learning to Wait,

Janna